1. Field of the Invention
An aspect of the present invention relates to a sheet feeding device of an electro-photographic apparatus, and particularly to the sheet feeding device using an air stream.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIGS. 1 and 2 are diagrams illustrating a configuration of a pneumatic sheet feeding device in an electro-photographic apparatus disclosed in JP-2005-1855-A. As shown in FIG. 1, sheets 2 are mounted on a sheet elevating table 1. The sheet elevating table 1 is controlled by a control unit 4 based on a detected result of a sheet upper surface detecting sensor 3, thereby positioning the sheets 2 at a given height. A suctioning chamber 5, a suction belt 6 having plural holes for passing air therethrough and a driving device 7 which drives the suction belt 6 are disposed above the sheets 2.
At the front position in a sheet feeding direction, a nozzle 8 that blows air toward the upper sheets to float the upper sheets is provided. The suction belt 6 performs conveying by suctioning the sheets 2 floated by the nozzle 8 and feeding the sheets. On the downstream of the sheet feeding direction, a conveying roller 13 is provided for receiving the fed sheets 2 and conveying the sheets 2 to an image forming unit (not shown).
Like a top vacuum corrugation sheet feeding device disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 2541526, there is related art sheet feeding device in which a unit for deforming a sheet suctioned in the central portion of plural suction belts is provided to blow an air stream into a space between sheets and to separate the sheets from each other, and a gate for preventing the subsequent sheets of a second sheet from being fed is provided.
In recent years, a printing process of an electro-photographic apparatus is inclined to increase, and high-speed printing has generally been used. Moreover, the types of sheets used in the printing are diversified. As a result, a demand for more rapid and reliable feeding capability has been increased. On the other hand, a demand for reducing manufacturing cost has been increased as well.